As is well known in the art, various problems and difficulties have been encountered in providing suitable sun shade devices for protecting infants and children when they are exposed to the sun. This is particularly true when an infant or young child occupies a baby carriage, stroller, or other conveyance device. Suitable sun shade devices are very important to the well-being of the child because sunlight can cause skin damage to the child or make the child occupant uncomfortable from the intense light and heat. Furthermore, when an infant is secured in a reclining or near-reclining position, the rays of the sunlight will often fall directly upon the infants' face and eyes causing damage to the eyes.
Many conventional conveyance devices, termed strollers herein, have integral canopies which are configured to protect a child occupant. While these canopies may protect the child from vertical rays of sunlight, these canopies are ineffective for protecting the child occupant from lateral and reflected rays of sunlight. Moreover, as the stroller moves around, the lateral and reflected rays of sunlight come in different directions according to the direction in which the stroller travels, making it difficult for an adult to effectively protect the child by using temporary means, such as strategically placed blankets or other shields.
One conventional baby carriage hood, or sun shade, has a support member for mounting the hood on a stroller. The support member includes a shaft which extends through the support member. The hood also has at least two hood ribs whose ends are bunched by the shaft in the manner of the pivot of a hand-held foldable fan. The ribs can then be unfolded and folded in the manner of a fan, and the unfolded angle thereof can be adjusted to any desired angle so as to shade the child occupant. Unfortunately, this sun shade does not completely enclose the child occupant of the stroller, hence the lateral and reflected rays of sunlight will still reach the child as the stroller travels about. Moreover, the attachment of the support member to a stroller precludes this prior art sun shade from being used on a variety of strollers.
Another prior art sun shade includes a self supporting frame for supporting a protective cover to protect a child occupant against the sunlight. The self supporting frame is secured to the handles of a conventional stroller and to structural elements of the stroller chassis. The self supporting frame then retains the protective cover around the chassis of the stroller to effectively protect the child occupant regardless of which direction the stroller travels.
Unfortunately, the self supporting frame structure is cumbersome to install, awkward to store, and does not allow quick and immediate access to the child occupant should the need arise. Another problem with the self supporting frame structure sun shade is that the child occupant is completely enclosed in a visually limiting protective cover. A child often feels separated or abandoned by his or her adult companion, for example his parent, if the child does not have an unimpeded view of that parent. This situation causes feelings of unhappiness or fear which leads to a fretful, crying baby or child. Moreover, the protective cover may also limit fresh air from passing through the stroller, so that the air under the cover is hot and stale. This situation results in further unhappiness for the child occupant due to the discomfort of the heat.
Yet another prior art sun shade is formed from a foldable material such as cardboard, plastic, and the like. The material is cut and scored to provided a preselected pattern which when folded into its fully assembled configuration, provides a means for attachment to a stroller for blocking sunlight. The canopy is configured to be installed at a position above and separated from a child in the stroller so that it allows quick and immediate access to the child occupant should the need arise. Unfortunately, this sun shade also does not completely enclose the child occupant of the stroller, hence the lateral and reflected rays of sunlight will still reach the child as the stroller travels about.